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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Kristin's November Giveaway - Beat the Grey Skies!

Tuesday's post has probably left you all thoroughly depressed. All those images of greys, tans, and browns certainly didn't brighten your day. They were beautiful in an odd way - moody and almost eery. Seeing them on the computer screen surely did make me feel chilly - just like it was when I was out hiking around for the photos.

But today, I've got some cheer for you - a lovely basket of brightly colored Julia Yarn sitting in the sun in the studio to brighten up your computer screen.

But wait, there's more. I'm going to take away all that grey November gloom. It's time for the biggest giveaway yet this fall. Here's what I've got for you all. I'm so excited - I wish I could enter!

1. From my friend Gail Callahan (aka The Kangaroo Dyer) an assortment of different colors of her very own hand-dyed yarn.

3. From me, a copy of Mary Jane Butters' MaryJane’s Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook - For the Farmgirl in All of UsI love this book and I want to share it with one of you. You'll have a great time reading about Mary Jane's farm and how she lives her life in Idaho. It is jam-packed with so many great ideas.

4. From me, an autographed copy of my latest book Color by Kristin. I love all my books but this one is probably my favorite so far. I was able to fit in pretty much everything I wanted to share with knitters. And the projects are so much fun.

5. From the fine folks at Nashua Handknits, 15 skeins of my soft and colorful JULIA Yarn. This will keep you busy all winter combined with my book Color by Kristin!

Here's what you have to do to enter.....

Answer the following question in the comments section of the blog. Are you ready? I've been working on it for 2 weeks.....

Question: If you could do anything in the next year, absolutely anything, what would you dream about doing? Forget about your job, your familial obligations, your house, your friends, and just do it for yourself? What is that dream?

Contest ends next next Thursday, November 18th at midnight. I can't wait to see what you come up with! Remember to leave an easy way to get a hold of you. Thanks everyone!

I have always wanted to travel to Australia and New Zealand. Both are known for their natural beauty, and for their cultural interests. But my biggest draw would be their needlework skills and their love of fiber animals. I would tour every craft museum and fiber factory possible. And bring home lots and lots and lots of yarn!

I would travel to Japan (because I've always wanted to go there), and spend six months there. Then I would come back here, fix up my house exactly the way I want it and write a book. The book would be just for me, myself, and I, because I think it would be fun to do, and I finally had the time to do it in. And of course, while waiting in airports, train stations, or for inspiration to strike, there would be a whole lot of knitting.

I must be crazy, but I'd love to, just for one year, focus on my other major hobby - martial arts! I'd go to Japan, atleast for a few months, to experience both the "real" martial arts and the japanese culture.

I would go to South America and visit Peru and Chile and Argentina and Ecuador (Quito and the Galapogos). And learn to weave. And while I was traveling I would knit - and try to compare techniques with the local people I met along the way. Lots of opportunities to buy wool and textiles.

Hey Kristin, First I have to say I rather liked the late fall/early winter photos. In Florida that's not a site we see. In my year I would travel to as many knitting, weaving,and spinning classes, workshops and shows that I could manage. All over the world. My favorite thing in the world is to learn more about my obbsession and meet other like-minded folks. Face it, fibery folks are the best folks in the world.

I would find an old barn on a little lake up in Michigan, renovate it (for living and studio space), paint a big, colorful quilt pattern on the side of it, and go from there.....Thanks for reminding us to dream, Kristin!

If I could do anything, I would travel to remote places on a spiritual journey. I would sample local cuisine, explore local customs and spend a lot of time trying to figure out who I want to be taking bits and pieces of each place with me as I went. I would build myself into being the woman that I want to be.

I would travel non-stop, visiting Canada coast to coast, our Pacific Northwest, Ireland again, Scotland, Wales, England, France, Greece, and spend a month in each place to soak up as much as I could. Travel, travel, travel.

Since I'm from California and have been living with Montana winters for the last decade, I'd probably go to Hawaii for an entire year an live on a beach. But I'd need hy horse, Spirit, for companionship and transportation, some yarn to knit a towel an a bathing suit, and a man to hold my umbrella and my iced tea.

In my 73 yrs. I have managed to fulfill a lot of dreams - Shetland & Yorkshire for knitting & spinning classes (twice actually!); walking holiday in Devon & Cornwall; several trips to SE & wool festivals; monthly spinning dates with good friends; visiting my family in the UK bi-annually; just want more of the same please.

I would spend a year building The Painted Sheep into what it really could be, if the necessity to work a full time+ job weren't getting in the way. More wholesale, fiber clubs, more offerings. A year to spend with my hands in the dye pots as much as possible - bliss!

I just talked about this with my knitting friends at work! Buy our LYS that is for sale, buy a big barn, turn it into a fiber arts school and win the lottery so we could all work there and still take care of our families! I'd do it tomorrow!

I would spend the year in Europe, with my husband and my knitting and our bicycles and our cats. And I would finally knit the three or four sweaters that have been zooming around my brain, and write up the patterns to launch a design business!

Oh, that's a tough question!I would have to say I would open my own business. I worked at an awesome independent store that sold local, hand made goods. I also sold my knitted items there. It closed after a year in business due to financial issues and health issues for the owner.I'd want to open something similar again.

Oh my, what a luxury that would be. I would travel to Donnegal Ireland and the Isle of Skye, Scotland and immerse myself in painting and fiber! Of course living in !a charming cottage is essential! It would be wonderful to have the luxury of time to explore the colors and textures of the countries in paint and also fiber. I confess I would miss my hubby, so he would have his bicycle. My son would visit us and I would arrange for him to learn how to play the bagpipes.

Just down the block from my home, there is the perfect place to open a yarn store. I would love to have a shop, based on a consignment model, that would sell fleece, fiber, handspun yarn, and handmade goods prepared by the many fiber fanatics in my area. Maybe someday I can make it happen!

What I have dreamed of for some time is taking an old farmhouse that is near near my house and making it into a light-filled place of inspiration for all the wonderful creative souls in my area. I'd love to feature knitting and spinning, quilting, stitching, jewelry making, creative journaling, other arts, gardening and herbs, cooking with local organic foods, and so forth as workshops. There would be drop-in times for different groups, and lot's of guest artist-teachers. If I really took this to the win-the-lottery level, I'd add yoga and pilates, along with meditation and massage in the barn which needs restoration too. And heck, why not add a tea-shop offering rose petal tea and home-made scones to this oasis? I know there are a lot of creative kindred souls in my area (central Pennsylvania) and I guess I dream of somehow touching base with them and sparking each other's creativity and imagination because there is something so nourishing to the soul in sharing creativity and the joy that accompanies it. I hope you have a joyful day reading our dreams! I certainly enjoy reading about your days. Claudia Horner

I'd plan a tour of our country. No schedule, just some basic planning before I hit the road, and depend on the local folks to provide info about what to eat and see. Lots of bed and breakfast nights, lots of walking New England, northern California, the Southwest. I get excited just thinking about it.

I would spend the year living in the country with all kinds of dogs and other animals. I grew up in rural western Canada, and I have a dream to return to that life now.Once I got there I would hope I would STAY!! I would walk, exercise and eat as much local as I could (which I try hard to do now). It would provide me with peace and serenity and canine pals. Susannescheusie@shaw.ca

If I could do anything at all, I would travel around the world. For starters, I'd love to visit India, Iceland, New Zealand and Africa and return to Italy (and eat as much as possible!). But it's just a dream...

Farming runs in my veins, but life has put me in a college town for way too many years. If I could do anything next year it would be to find that perfect farm of my own - complete with an old farmhouse with good bones to renovate, a pond or two and plenty of land. I have no romantic illusions...I know just how hard it can be to live that lifestyle. I also know how freeing it can be, and how much peace can be found in it.

One of the things I'd would love to do is to be able spend the entire week at SOAR 2011. It will be in NE not far from me and I've never had the opportunity to go before. That an successfully knit a sweater that really fits me well.

It took me a few moments. And the answer surprised me. I would quit my job and finally get my little pack of dogs. I don't have the time they take and I miss having a dog sooo much...seems like a simple answer but truly, that would make me happy. I would also knit 24-7 :)

I would travel the world and see some beautiful sites, of course my knitting would come along with me. I would also visit knit shops along the way as I tend to do that now when I travel. Thanks for the awesome giveaway.

I would work on forgiving myself for all the mistakes I've made in my life, and learn how to relax in the moment. I would spend the year loving the important people in my life--knitting all the while, of course!

I would love to take a cross-country road trip with my husband at a leisurely pace. We've done a cross-country trip once before, but with a hard deadline. This time I'd like to take our time and linger in some small towns I never would have the opportunity to explore otherwise. Included on the trip would be a visit to one of the alpaca farms I've been researching - several in Ohio and Vermont and other places.

I would travel all over the globe, visiting places and people introduced to me in beautiful blogs like yours. The next step would be relocating to another part of the world, finding a relaxed atmosphere in which to see old friends and meet new ones, paint, draw, knit, crochet, begin a garden, bake, read, write, see the stars in the night sky, ride a bike, get a dog ... and much much more

I would align myself with a neutral world leader and create and administer a program that required all secondary education students in all countrys to travel to an underserved country and live with a family and do community work for one semester before they could graduate from high school.

The only way to create equity and world peace is to walk in the others shoes and realize we are all the same and it is circumstances that are beyond our control that create differences...

My dream world is to spend EVERYDAY with my grandchildren not the twice a yr I have now. Have a home in a the country with a big yard for the kids & dogs to run & play. And if I had spare time, sit on a lovely deck with my knitting-to knit something lace or fair aisle :) Oh that would be the life :)deni

I would love to be able to travel. First to Turkey, because I have always wanted to go to Istanbul. Then I would go and visit my friend in England and go back and see places I visited in Kazakhstan when I lived there several years ago.

I would explore Minnesota looking for the perfect piece of land to purchase for a family get-away and Women's spiritual retreat. I would also travel to Eastern Canada - just b/c I've always wanted to. I would go on lots of walks, swim lots of laps, go cross-country skiing with my kids, get a fabulous makeover, laugh more, take more pictures, create beautiful & tasty meals, knit more, and be nice as much as possible! Anne Paulson paulsons4@arvig.net

I would travel! Ireland, Scotland and Italy would be at the very top of my list. To visit the places that my family and my husbands family came from, to introduce our kids to different cultures and foods and historical places. That would be an absolute dream come true.

My dream is simple sort of- I'd like to let my husband retire and head to the Adirondacks, open a B & B, with a knit and book shop inside. I can hear the quiet music, see my spinning wheel with a cup of coffee beside it............

Be creative to my hearts desire. I would definitely knit one of your sweater designs because the biggest reason I haven't knit one yet is finding enough time to concentrate on a large color-work project. I've knitted several in my pre-children days. But now a days I knit mostly things I can carry with me. I'm also a polymer clay artists (starting with making buttons for my knits) so I would play with clay and make beautiful jewelry.

absoutely cheerful Give Away!!Anything well wellThis year was sooooo very roughI would love to travel in Europe, stay in bed and breakfast. Do some hiking and spend lots of down time to knit and spin. Just mainly relax and explore!! Oh the dream

Travel! Though I'd hope to spend months in places rather than days, to really get to know what life is like there. I'd also like to spend some time helping in places of need (Haiti? Chile? Pakistan??) rather than tourist meccas. Think of all the knitting time in a whole year off work!

my husband and I live where the work is. But he misses Oregon so much! So if money and work were no object, we'd pack up and move Oregon, where we could have a big house with lots room for rescue animals and sled dogs and sheep and yarn and a studio for him so he could sculpt again....

Greetings from Shell:Wow Kristin !!!I would purchase a lovely cottage on the ocean, perhaps near Belfast, Maine, and then invite all my friends to join me there for weeks at at time. I have wished to show my son the beauty of Maine for years, he's now 18. How wonderful to have this cottage-studio open for my friends,(and others interested) to enjoy and use as a drawing-writing-painting-knitting-fiber arts-music-gardening-theatre mecca. I would design it after Charleston House in England in many ways, with the beauty of Waldorf. The studio at the top of the building will resemble a lighthouse ! Artistic cultural opportunities will be created for children with arts, handworks,playwriting and caring for the sheep,goats,llamas, alpacas and chickens.In Summertime plays will be held in outdoor garden areas. Preservation of folktales and storytelling with marionettes will be part of The Cottage. Mini trips to India & Peru and all South American countries,my first choices of places to travel,along with Italy, England,Ireland,Scotland,Denmark and Sweden would enable us to visit with other like-minded people. With all the wonderus creativity going on, I'd like to be buying supplies from all the terific farmers & crafters in the U.S. helping to sustain them. ta-da !This would keep me very busy for a year, but with the amazing Maine ocean for inspiration, I could do it all ! :) The best part would be collecting my friends together with my son.Kristin, thanks for reminding us to dream.Shell,YarnSoup@yahoo.com

This is an easy questin to answer. I have been thinking about this for sometime now. If I could forget all my obligations here and go somewhere for a year I would head to Durbin, South Africa. My cousin is a missionary there and I would love to spend that time using what the good Lord has blessed me with to minister to those people. The crime rate is high, aids runs rampid, and the poor have no skills to stay alive except for prositiution. I know its not glamerious or even safe but, I feel like I could really be of service there. Moms don't have money to raise children and they only make enough to feed them that day. There are no fathers around and God is unknown to these people. So I would pack up with my knitting and crocheting supplies and what clothes I could take and off I would go to serve on the mission field!

What a generious give-a-way and I so want to win! MAybe this time Maybe this time! (With fingers crossed!) It will be me! Lol!

Wow; what an amazing giveaway! I would pick 2 or 3 places to travel to, using each one as a home base for several months so that I have enough time to really see the place I'm visiting and get to know some people there. Places would be chosen based on how much opportunity they could offer for me to study some aspect of knitting, spinning, weaving and caring for fiber animals; a good dose of natural beauty would be nice too. The catch is that I would have to learn to travel as a much more outgoing person than I really am. I love the idea of collecting a bunch of new friends, but I'm too reserved to be very successful at it.

I'd spend a year revisiting my own life...when our children were little. There are so many things from those years that were lost because we were just too tired to remember. Living far from grandparents, we are not able to glean even their fond memories of those times. I just want one sweet year back. Thank you for asking.

Oh, Kristin, I've already been thinking about it. I would go to Rome for the year. I would continue my exercise/healthy eating program there and it would be so easy. Brush up on my Italian, walk everywhere, take day trips whenever possible. In a few years I may be able to - two teenagers in high school right now - except then I'll probably only be thinking about paying for college.

i'd love to buy a couple rv's and take my family (all my children are grown) and travel the USA for 6 months and then send the last six months at the beach in seaside florida - knitting, reading and rug hooking - thanks for giving me the chance to dream...

I would love to bring my family (husband, 4 boys) to a remote cabin in the mountains somewhere. I would spend most of my time knitting, spinning, and hiking. Somebody else would cook and clean for us! We could sit by the fire in the evenings and read to each other.

My dream would be to have all the time in the world to spin, knit, explore dying fiber and learn to weave...no other obligations, just time, time, time! This is really a wonderful giveaway Kristin and thanks for the dreaming :)

It must have something to do with turning 60 this year! I would love to trace the roots of my four grandparents, who all came to the US from Slovakia, Austria, and Germany. Maybe do a trip of about a month? I have never visited this part of the world, and it just would be amazing to walk where they had walked. This would also encourage me to knit some sweaters to wear (hard to use in Florida). Better brush up on my German as well!

I would like to learn how to quilt...art quilts...get a new sewing machine...learn to knit and crochet better..learn to felt...and get better at rug hooking...getting ready for someday opening a quilt/fabric/wool/yarn/rug hooking massive fiber art store.. for all things fiber art!....This is the year(and possibly the next few years until the economy turns for the better) that I want to work on my "craft" of fine fiber artwork...so that when I open the store I can be knowledgeable about all fiber art.

I would like the luxury of time. My heart is called to learning so many new things and yet the time I can devote is so little. I would love to go to workshops and classes with wonderful teachers because I think the enthusiam of a great teacher/mentor is inpsiring and contagious. I would love to talk to these teachers in their own workshops - and create alongside them. I would love to share the things I learn in this journey with other women in my community because I have been blessed in my life by people who have shared things they have learned with me and it would be fun to have more time and means to give back. Of course, I would love to spend more time with my grandkids too! This has been a fun thing to think about this morning. Thanks for asking!

I would let it all go and take a 2 week long trip to UK, watching charming houses and WOOLSHOWS all the time. Sleeping in small Bed&Breakfast's, knitting in bed in the evenings, and pet all the spindles and wool I've been shopping at todays show...and drink loads of English Tea,of course. And NO, I wont leave my umbrella at home...

I would become a hermit for a year.Somwhere by the sea in a little cabin (with electricity of course, for the sewing machine) The cabin would be full of sunlight and magnificent views.My 2 dogs would be there to accompany me on many aimless walks.I would rediscover the natural rhythms, simplify my life and nuture my soul.I would knit and sew and just 'be'Anna

Camera, laptop, private (eco-friendly) combination jet/car/snowmobile/yacht/Lunar ATV, knitting needles and unlimited yarn money. Unfortunately, it would also require world peace so there'd be no restrictions about moving safely from one country to another.

I would just relax and let all the stress of the Silicon Valley go. It's as if you can never work hard enough or long enough around here. I would just enjoy life at home: take some gourmet cooking lessons, travel locally and see the sights people come from all over to visit on their vacations (wine country, San Francisco, etc.), reconnect with my friends.

And knit, of course,when I feel like it and enjoy the process. Sometimes I forget knitting is a hobby. At the end of a long day I’m thinking I’ve “got” to get some knitting done like it’s another chore. I want to get back to I “want” to get some knitting done because I love it! A year may not be long enough. giddyvic@yahoo.com

I would paint trees! Trees are my daydream trigger always and I would love to spend a year with them, all over the globe, sketching and painting (which I do not "do" and want to improve). Rooted, reaching and cyclical, trees symbolize so much to me.

Wow. Free license to dream, eh? Let's see. I'd quit my job for good, buy a farm not too far away (we're surrounded with beautiful farm country), dig in the dirt, raise lots of animals, and finally become a mama. There would be lots of time for writing, playing guitar and mandolin, bicycling, walks through the trees, hot tea with cream and honey, warm scones and thick cut bacon for breakfast, and star-gazing. And I might have a little time left over to learn to knit.

Kristin - We recently made some major changes in our lives and moved from Georgia to the Boston area. So we live where we want to live now and I am knitting each evening instead of focusing on work in the evening. My job is awesome and I have even started a Fiber Arts group at work. So I am pretty content, I guess the only dream would be to go and study tartan making in Scotland. My husband is first generation, so he still has immediate family in there. I love tartan, the play of color together. This is one of the reasons I found your book on Color so interesting. I would love to acheive knitting tartan designs. This would be my dream/goal for that year.

I am a novice knitter but have become very fascinated with the sheep and wool festivals held around the country. Maybe I would take off with my dogs and husband and travel from festival to festival. The only time constraint would be getting to the next festival.

I would have to decide between 2 things. I have always wanted to drive around all the great lakes taking my time and stopping and really seeing. And the other wish trip would be to drive along the Mississippi River and take in all the sites.

I would try to set up an area in my house and become a Cat foster home for kittens. We have some outside cats that I feed, one had kittens and I've got them in the house taming them so they can be adopted. Why people don't like cats is a big question but they are very loving and sweet, each with their own personality. All animals need a chance and it just pains me to see any mistreated.

I'm lucky enough to live in the country. It is so lovely here; I get such pleasure from looking out the window. Travel for more than a week or two just doesn't appeal to me. For my wishes, the money fairy would have to visit as well as the time fairy! :-) I would take the year off from work, hire a maid service and a lawn service to do the routine stuff at home. Then I would spend the year loving on the grandbabies, playing in my garden, "working" on sewing, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, stained glass, teaching sewing classes, and taking classes that interest me in any of the needle arts. I feel relaxed just jotting it down.

Big fancy dream? Go on a long leisurly tour of the countryside in the UK. Taking tons of pictures along the way.Other big fancy dream? Sell everything and take my whole family on a cross country caravan trip. Visiting small towns all over the USA, visiting every single state. Heaven!

My dream, quit teaching, I love it but I'm just exhausted and worn down by the constant inspections. I'd move in with my parents in their barn conversion and set up my own fibre based business.... not going to happen unfortunately.

I would like the time and discipline to get physically healthy - exercise every day and eat well always. If I were able to accomplish that, everything else will follow. The daily grind is too often the excuse for not doing what needs to be done.

This is not an exciting answer, but I think the key to a good older age is physical health.

I am a self taught knitter (about 4 years into the addiction) and have found my favorite knitting obsession is Socks. Love the process, the creativity, wearing the finished product and the quiet, problem solving, zen like, reflective knitting time. In knitting socks there is a pattern, and like life basic may be the calm, easier path but sometimes you've just got to shake it up! With this thought in mind I would like to attend Sock Summit this coming year to see how other knitters are shaking it up. Thanks,Lisa vivianos3@aol.com

My dream year adventure would be to knitting travel adventures!!! I would go to Europe, Canada and New England to visit all the wonderful knitting spots I read about. I would purchase yarn at every location and knit something from every adventure.

I would love to live life for a year where time doesn't matter... where there are no deadlines and the hustle and bustle of everyday life that I am experiencing now would be gone. That would give me the chance to relax and enjoy everyday to its fullest...time to start a family. Of course some traveling with my husband and knitting is a given in this dream! Thanks for the giveaway! It was nice to daydream for awhile!buckets19@hotmail.com

I'd travel like crazy for the first six months--Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Iceland, Nova Scotia and the Pacific Northwest, Europe. Then I'd come home and (with money no object!) start a little hobby farm closer to my family, with chickens and goats and a sleepy old horse. And I'd have a baby.

Although, we are planning to go to Japan, move home and start a farm, and have a baby within the next two years. So I guess my life is pretty good already!

I would not travel . I would stay at home but give myself permission to put my crafting ahead of outside obligations.I would not feel guilty for closing myself up in the craft room with a pot of tea, NPR and paints, yarn, threads and ideas. As I move up the decades I am more aware that my time to do this is growing shorter.

Kristen,What a great idea. I would travel to Italy and France, England and Ireland. I would take my time and become part of the country. I would hunt down yarn stores and eat all the wonderful food. Not to mention drink some wine. I think it would be wonderful.Have a wonderful day, you made mine just making me think about it.Meredith

I would take lots of classes with knitting gurus I admire, a weekend in your new class room would make me very happy! I want to learn how to knit sweaters like a professional. I want to take classes to learn fair isle knitting. I would take classes cooking as well.I would love to learn how to cook and bake more from scratch and use what I can buy from local farmers.thanks for a great giveaway.Kathie

Dear Kristin: Thanks for this great giveaway. I'm going to be one of those downer commenters. I just want prosperity to return to us downtrodden middle class. After a very tough financial year, I want to be able to pay my bills, get a decent paycheck, and get some medical insurance to get my knee looked at and fixed. That, and be able to finish a quilt this year. At least that I can control. Pattie in San Francisco (pdja@sbcglobal.net)

I would move to a lovely little cottage in the Lake District in England. I will travel all over England, Scotland and Wales and visit all the places that I have read about all my life. When the weather is blustery and cold I will light a fire and knit to my heart's content, probably tons and tons of socks and sweaters. In the spring and summer I will plant a fabulous garden with flowers, vegetables and herbs. In the kind evenings I would sit outside with my knitting and listen to the sounds of "nothing". I would bake bread, make wonderful meals and invite my new friends from the village over often. I would stay up late and sleep whenever I wanted. Total Bliss....do you think I've thought of this before??!!

I would move to a small house outside of New York City, use one room to live in, and the rest for various crafting/art. I would walk around and take pictures every day, sew and knit all my own clothes. It would be creativity central. Also, I would eat a lot of sweets.

Only 1 year? My dream is to go to College (I'm 36) and be an an actual certified teacher, instead of just a paraeducator. I love working with children, I love the joy my job gives me, but I'd love to be an actual teacher. If I had a year, and could hold on to my job in the meantime, I'd take as many classes as I could at the local college to get started on my way.

I would love to spend the next year selling our condo and purchasing a home with room for everyone. I'd love to have a studio/dye space, as well as a playroom for the kids, a game room for my husband, and a practice space for his music.

I would spend the year traveling with my knitting as my companion - visiting the fjords of Norway, Carl Larsson's homestead in Sweden, Beatrix Potter's place in the Lake District and the Bronte parsonage in York. I would walk the Camino de Santiago and tour Toscana, visit Southern France and spend time in Greece. Turkey, Kroatia and Slovenia would be on my list. And between all the travels I would spend time in my simple country home in Finland, absorbing all the new experiences I've had. Such a lovely dream...

I would spend time selfishly working on the things I love. I would weave, spin, knit, quilt. Then I would work in the garden. I don't know, it seems like it would be great, but I would miss my family a great deal!

a long slow trip around the world with no deadlines and someone to get me a ticket and a place to stay when I decide where I am going from here. Countryside, cities, focus on local crafts and celebrations and food. Try, see, eat, photograph it all before the world gets too homogeneous and same-y. And, since I am dreaming here, the ability to invite a friend to meet me in every place, just drop whatever THEY are doing for a week in Rome, or Chiang Mai.... Might as well dream big if you are going to dream.

I would knit and knit and have a baby. I am 35 and have been waiting my whole life to have children. My husband and I are finally able to live together. We were apart due to job obligations and so now I'm just really excited to start a family! Oh and take a trip to Europe. I taught in Asia for two years but haven't been to Europe yet...

I would like to go up to either Stowe, VT or somewhere on the coast of ME and just relax and knit a Starmore sweater and some socks. I would also like to catch up on some reading that I have wanted to do.

I would love to go on a week or 2-week trip up and down the Pacific Coast visiting yarn stores, knitting on the beach and just chillin' out with my hubby. No cares - no worries - probably no money - just us. (We've been married 48 years and I still feel that way)!

If I had unlimited money and time I'd travel the world, visiting fiber artists to learn all I could about spinning, dyeing, knitting and quilting.I'd want to bring my husband and my teenage daughter(who's very artistic and has just gotten into sewing and crocheting).

i'd enroll in the mfa interdisciplinary program in studio arts offered at goddard college in vermont. and i'd take as many crafting seminars as i could fit in, all across the country.chicorycottage at yahoo dot com

Oh to dream, to dream. I would spend my year learning to spin first, then travel to all the most wonderful sounding places like Ireland, Scotland, all over Europe, Canada, etc, etc. Too many to write down. Of course I would be taking knitting classes and knitting up a storm. Can't forget my quilting either.

I would spend the first day catching up on quantum physics, nanotechnology, molecular biology, and animal husbandry so I could create my own special sock yarn and design patterns for it. Then I'd sell the yarn and patterns over the internet, to unsuspecting knitters who'd never realize they were stitching away on Inter/Multi Dimensional Zen Harmonic Piezoelectric Mind Control Socks until it was too late, and they were already my knitzombie slaves. Within the year I'd be Ruler Of The Earth! Bwahahahahaha!!!! Laugh at me, will you, Mitzi O'Schlumpmooker? You'll be mu first customer. Bwahahahahaha!!!

Or maybe I'd just start reading something other than knitting books and sci-fi.

Fun giveaway, thanks! I'll save you a throne next to mine, but slightly lower.

I would live on a sailboat in the Caribbean, scuba diving and eating fish I caught myself and drinking rum and just generally enjoying the warm water and warm sun with absolutely no responsibility. I suppose my husband and kids could come too, but it would have to be a BIG boat and I'd need a full time nanny. The important part of the dream is the warm-all-the-time part.

I have always wanted to spend an entire year living in the far north, above the Arctic circle. To experience the change of seasons from non-stop sunlight in summer to the very little sunlight in the winter. Take my husband, and my knitting needles, and leave our responsibilities behind!

I would absolutely quit my job, focus my attention on my kids, dog, husband, and even myself without the worries of getting paged. I would also take the time to figure out what would be a better way to spend my life than what I do now-could I find a fulfilling job that would leave me happier?

Wow! What a question! Me? What would I want to do? I so enjoy my life right now, teaching writing and knitting and walking, it's hard to think. I think I'd love to travel to Germany, England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland with just a backpack with my laptop, my camera and my knitting needles and travel all over those fascinating countries, knitting my way from town to town, photographing the places my ancestors came from, sitting in cafes and watching the people around me. Oh yes, I could do that for a year!

I would ask for one day where my husband didn't have Post traumatic stress disorder, and didn't have a brain injury and we would go to the park Where he wouldn't have to scan for snipers and we could push our girls in the swings and be relaxed. Then we could go back to our messy wonderful lives that I do love and do not regret. But I wonder how it could be sometimes.

Just one thing?? wow that is hard, but i would love to go to New Zealand, and just knit, and paint and relax. I would also love to spend fall in the east,and meet all of the wonderful people i have gotten to know on the internet. I love your blog, and am so excited about this awesome give away.

I would really and truly live in Maine for a year in a house near the ocean up on a cliff and spend every day hiking in Acadia and then cooking all day with local produce, local seafood etc. In the evenings, I would knit.Mary McMahon in Cincinnati

I'm a graduate student, so I spend a lot of time alone with just my books, my computer, and my thoughts. I would round up my friends and family, jet us out to a cabin somewhere on a lake, and just be: cooking, laughing, sitting around a fireplace. Oh, yes. And knitting.

I would visit every national park with my husband. We would drive so I had lots of knitting time. While we were driving we would listen to books on tape. We would also hike 5 miles every day. In between national parks I might also stop at a yarn store or two.

I have "Lottery Lists" - Things I would DO and/or GET, depending on the Amount of Winnings, etc. The LIST at the Top of "The LISTS" has only one thing on it - EVERYTHING!

However, on the more "practical" side, AND if Money *wasn't* an issue... I think that I would finally like to GET [what I call] The-House-I'll-Never-Own and DECORATE it with ALL of the STUFF that I've been buying and making and saving for the last couple of decades!

BTW have I "mentioned" the Part about probably being a "Curator" in at least 2 previous Lives...?

And, once that's DONE, then to ENJOY IT! Perhaps, catch up on the hundreds of Books I have, CROCHET all the IDEAS I have in my head, get back to doing all of the OTHER Needlework stuff that I've wanted to do again...

Also, be able to Travel - anywhere - WITHOUT all the CRAP that comes with it these days! I've travelled extensively [done Europe, Hawaii, NZ...] over the years, but not lately... It's just too much of a hassle! I'd definitely NEED a Private Plane! - Cute, strapping, young PILOT, wouldn't hurt either!

However, if I had to choose just ONE place - I think ANTARCTICA. It's always "off-season"! - And, would be a great place to "field-test" all that lovely YARN that-I'll-likely-NOT-Win!

But, hey... One can dream... WHICH, I should BE doing right NOW, as it's 3am and I have to get my "Hook" to BED!!

I don't need to travel, I would love to just be at home, not have to work, and have time to explore different kinds of knitting, especially colorwork. What a treat to be able to just play, and make something really time-consuming! Maybe knit an Alice Starmore sweater, or one of your beautiful multicolor sweaters...while listening to some wonderful audiobooks perhaps...heavenly.

In the meantime, in the real world, thanks for the great giveaway! If I win, you can reach me at perecmanatmindspringdotcom.

With nothing to hold me back I'd spend more time knitting, spinning and sewing, I'd also go to Lerwick in the Shetland Isles and also Germany to visit the Wollemeise store. I'd visit both places in the New Zealand winter so I had less freezing cold time!

Well, if I would win the lottery as well I would love to go around the world, seeing what is going on in the knitting world. But without the lottery money I would do all the craft things I am longing for and believe me the list is long :-)

I would live in a small cottage in France surrounded by vineyards with my husband and my standard poodle and my daughter (not necessarily in that order) whenever she would like to join us. I would love to write and go for walks on horseback through the vineyards.

Every year we donate money to Heifer International to send sheep to a family on the other side of the world. My dream would be to hope on a ship with a few of my own sheep and hand deliver them to a needy family. kimgoodling@yahoo.com

I would take as many kntting ,spinning,dyeing and even designing worksops that I could.I'd take that knowledge to share with kids and teens or elderly shut ins or nursing home patients who don't access or money to knit or crochet.I'm a visiting nurse and see people who say they used to do that ot or wish they could learn and its heart breaking because I can't afford to do it. But that would be my big dream. my email is jshapir4@nycap.rr.com.Jackie

I would like to step out of my terrifc, busy life. I'd stay home and garden, knit and craft, and play with my grandchildren. I'd sew for the fun of it, instead to make a deadline. And write. So I guess I'd exchange one busy life for another.

If I could do anything in the world I would definitely move to Europe. Spend my days creating and writing. I would take art classes with all of the inspirational teachers. I would eat lots of cheese and bread....and never gain an ounce! :-)Most of all I would be completely FREE to do exactly what I want. DD

About six months renting a small house in the west of Ireland ... I have no idea why, but this appeals to a need for solitude near the company of accepting people. And just think what glory a basket of Julia yarn would bring to the windy coast of Ireland!

I would completely immerse myself in fiber. I would learn how to care and shear sheep, alpaca, llama, etc. I would then take that fleece all the way to a sweater. I would spend months playing with natural dyes. Then I would travel to see how it's done in other parts of the world. I would totally spend the year creating.

I would spend 3-4 months in Europe backpacking with my husband,Rick Steve's books and several skeins of sock yarn. No particular agenda, just go with the flow, and experience the culture, people, and beautiful scenery.

Kristin,I would like to take some time off and travel. I visit places like the Grand Canyon and travel to small out of the way places whether it's the mountains, the farmlands or the shore. I would take my time and soak up all the beauty of each destination, make a diary of each place visited and of course take plenty of pictures.

My dream has been to buy a little farm, and have chickens, many dogs and maybe a pig. I actually found a farm on the water in Hyannis. It is big, and beautiful and run down, with an ocean view. It would be my bliss!

Ballerina/dancer. I love the idea of spending everyday moving through the repetition of barre. Then feeling my body work through intricate and minute muscle movements that, when seen from the outside, look to the viewer as fluidity, beauty and just amazing. I get jolts of kinesthetic feelings whenever I see good dance. I would ideally want my body to do those movements too. I came close, but "don't have the legs" for professional dance. My favorite feeling is still the sense of soaring through air and space with just my body, concentrating on pointing or flexing toes, bends of joints, cocking my head... generally making constantly moving shapes with my body. Good luck to all!!!!twistedknits@gmail.com

I'd buy a motorhome/camper and travel around the country. I'd visit places and friends, take workshops and learn and see new things. I'd stare out across pristine lakes and build a campfire in the desert and take a deep breath.

I would find and reside in a retreat of some sort, where I could practice yoga and get myself in shape physically as well as emotionally. It would, of course, have to allow cats and dogs (who would magically get along famously) since I cannot imagine not having a small creature to dote upon. When not exercising or meditating or working out all my issues, I could knit and read and maybe even learn to spin. There would be people there too, I'm not a hermit and I do like people, but they would not have issues for me to deal with. I'm so tired of dealing with the issues of others all the time....

Okay, here it is: Last year I walked the Cumbria Way with my husbaand in the Lake District of England and fell in LOVE -- fell in love with the A.W. Wainwright's guide of the region, fell in love with walking across farmland and all the sheep-grazed country, fell in love with the local sheep (all sorts of heritage varieties that Beatrix Potter nearly single-handedly saved), fell in love with the green, fell in love with the rain (yes really). So my big plan? (Yes, it is a dream.) To move to Grasmere, England with my husband for at least 9 months, and yes, to live there. Where my husband (who is an actor) will do a one-man show at Dove Cottage/Wordsworth museum, and I'll write a kid's book on A Wainwright (his dog, the sheep he encounters on his walks in the mountains). (I'm a kids book writer.) And if we stay, we open a knitting shop in Grasmere using wool from all that local sheep, and then get a knitting collective together of people who'll knit walking gear, climbing hats and mits from vintage patterns. Also, we'll serve really good coffee at the shop too. And it'll have a performance space too (enough for a one-man).

I love this dream. I desperately want to go back to England. I think I am made for walking those hill/mountains in the lake district. What a beautiful, beautiful place!

I would love to go on a retreat in the wilderness of Colorado with other fiber artists. The food would be organic and yoga would be practiced before breakfast. In the evening we would gather in a tepee and enjoy a fire and work on our knitting and spinning.

Oh, this has been a fun thing to think about! I would want to really expand my small business, and go to all the fiber shows I want (assuming I can also hire some "staff"!!), in the U.S. and also in England. I've always wanted to go to Rhinebeck, and Sock Summit, to name a few, and some of the Quilt Markets I read about. Really immerse myself in the colors and textures of the fiber world and meet all my fiber/cyber friends in person! Living in a rural area on limited means keeps me from some of these real life experiences!

Of course I'd also need some magical pockets of time to knit up and sew all the wonderful yarn fabric I will find!

Not as glamorous a wish as traveling to the South Seas, but a wish nonetheless.

Oh that's easy! I would love a year off from work just to do whatever I want and whenever I want. I would love to just be at home with my husband having the time to knit, sew, quilt, whatever. I would also love to travel - where? Anywhere at all would be lovely.

Hi Kristin: If I had a year to do anything I would transform the upstairs of my 3 car garage into the most colorful yarn studio anyone could imagine. From there I would offer weekend retreats and invite the best designers in the yarn industry to come and stay in my home while they taught a weekend class. We would share knitting stories, laugh, create and learn from one another as we knit the hours away!

I would love to buy a bigger house with enough space for a fiber studio,with enough land for my 3 yo to play in and that garden that I've been "growing" in my head for years and years. snohotina@gmail.com

If I could do anything, I'd bring my mom back to life. I'd safeguard her so that she would not fall and break her hip. It could mean another decade of life with her. I'd wrap her up and enjoy her sly wit, while looking her into her soft blue eyes. That's what I'd do.

In the last year I have become a big fan of all the indie knitwear designers out there - for me, their work is far more interesting than what I am seeing in the knitting magazines. The challenge is trying to keep up with all these designers and their patterns. I would like to spend my time setting up a knitting store that would focus on independent designers and their work and make them available to the knitting public who may not even know there is a whole other world out there in knitting patterns, beyond what is found in the standard knitting magazines.I think the challenge for a LYS is to learn to incorporate the online knitting world successfully into their business and I would like to have the time,( with no financial restrictions!) to learn how to do this.

I would spend the year designing everything and anything for non-profits and surveying trees for FUF, our local urban forestry group. Oh and I would finally, seriously, learn to bake a decent piecrust.

If I could do absolutely anything!!!....I would travel to Australia (as I've always wanted to) and live on a sheep farm, one where the mistress was a knitter/spinner, and learn and spin and live there for at least 6 months.

Having just been diagnosed for the second time, after a 6 year remission, with breast cancer. I would like to wake up in the new year thinking, "OMG, they found a cure!" Then I would knit away my 'stash" in the peace of my home. I wouldn't need to travel or spend any money. I would spend the year being so greatful..."For the Cure!"

My dream has been to travel the British Isles, beginning with finding the house where my grandmother grew up in Deal, Kent. Part of that dream would be to have a driver, someone who knows the roads and would be available to chauffeur me about at a whim. I would stay at quaint B&B's and hit every yarn store in the UK. Sigh.

I'm not used to such fanciful thoughts, I'm afraid. But if I had the opportunity, I would like to go to the little village in northeastern Germany and see the house and farm that was my grandparents' home before they emigrated to America.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i would gather up my bf oh yes that is my daughter, and off we would go to italy the place we have always wanted to go. there we would travel the country, search out all fibery goodness, eat there wonderful food, sight see all of the beauty, drive up and down the seaside, and knit................... and only wen we had to we would return to share our memories with the rest of the boys in our bunch!

I would put together the biggest, longest road trip ever with good friends and my Mom and sisters. We would travel in a bus and stay at bed and breakfast across the country and through Canada. And every stop would include yarn stores, and sheep and wool festivals, and music festivals, and week long camp and class sessions (like yours!). And if the husband wanted to come along with a couple friends we could throw in a few white water stops for them as well.

Fabulous give away!I would like to visit my beloved homeland, Finland,all by myself for a month. Observe and get to know it again with out any demands and then spend another month visiting my relatives, getting to know them again in the same way.Of course I would visit every yarn shop and mill in the country.

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All words and photos are copyright by Kristin Nicholas. Please do not use my original photos or reprint my writing without asking me for permission. Please make sure you credit me as Photographer and link back to this blog. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me - my contact info is on the left sidebar. Thank you!